Sunday March 13, 2005

I've Been Thinking:

To think that all Palestinian factions come together as one big, happy family is to make a serious mistake.
There are fights and internal tensions. There is jockeying for power and for the media spotlight.
There might be an implosion within Palestinian society.

Look at what happened at Hebron University today.
Hebron University is a university not dissimilar to many Western institutions of higher learning, that is to say, a hotbed of political activism, particularly, extremist activism.

Hamas held a rally on campus today.
Fatah members starting shouting out their slogans.
The rally turned into a rumble.
At least 9 people, including a journalist who required 10 stitches in his head, were hospitalized.
The ironic part - Islamic Jihad, also in attendance at the rally, became the buffer between the other rival groups.

Why did this happen?
Because of Hamas' popularity among the younger generation.
Hamas, generally, does very well in Palestinian student elections.
Fatah knows that.
And Fatah feels their hold slipping in the generation gap so they act, and react, in order not to lose their grip on Palestinian society as a whole.

Today a rally turned into a rumble, tomorrow - who knows.